How do Asta credits work?

You get 1,000 credits on signup and are never charged. Find papers, Generate report, and Analyze data use no credits. AutoDiscovery costs 1 credit per experiment; Theorizer costs 1 credit per source paper. If you fall below 120 credits, you can request 100 more.

What happens to an exploration after 24 hours?

It becomes read-only. You can view results but cannot continue the conversation in that exploration. Start a new exploration to keep working.

Can I upload sensitive or regulated data to hosted Asta?

No. Do not upload PHI, financial account numbers, precise geolocation, or data subject to HIPAA/GDPR-like rules to hosted Asta. Self-hosting is the only supported path for regulated data.

Does Asta train AI models on my uploaded datasets?

Raw uploaded datasets are never used for model training. Prompts and interactions may be temporarily logged for reliability, but they are not used to train models without explicit opt-in consent.

What does Generate theories actually do?

It finds up to 100 relevant papers, extracts findings, and proposes candidate theories with scope, novelty, and evidence. It is not a literature review. Runs take 20-30 minutes and can use up to 100 credits.

Why didn’t Generate theories find the paper I expected?

It only sees open-access full text it can retrieve. Paywalled papers and gray literature are invisible, and search can miss even well-known papers.

Directory/Search/AI Research Assistant/Asta

Asta

Asta is a scholarly research assistant from Ai2 that combines literature understanding with data-driven discovery. It draws on 108M+ abstracts and 12M+ full-text papers to find, summarize, and analyze scientific evidence. Core tools include Find papers, Generate report, Analyze data, AutoDiscovery (Bayesian surprise for hidden insights), and Theorizer (generates testable theories from up to 100 papers). It supports uploading structured datasets in CSV, Excel, JSON, HDF5, TSV, and Parquet for analysis. Designed for researchers, scientists, and graduate students, Asta offers free credits (1,000 initial) with no paid tiers. Explorations are active for 24 hours, and uploaded datasets are auto-deleted after 7 days. Self-hosting is available for regulated data.

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Added on

Nov 4, 2026

108M+ abstracts12M+ full-textLiterature searchData analysisTheory generationReport generationOpen access only

Product information

Everything worth knowing about Asta

The complete picture — from everyday features to the technical detail builders and IT folks dig for.

Core features

What it actually does

Find papers

Search across 108M+ abstracts and 12M+ full-text papers to locate relevant scientific literature. No credit usage.

Generate report

Produce literature reviews that summarize what papers say on a research question. No credit usage.

Analyze data

Upload structured research datasets in CSV, Excel (.xlsx), JSON (.json/.jsonl), HDF5, TSV, or Parquet and run analysis on them. No credit usage.

Generate theories (Theorizer)

Turns a research question into candidate testable theories by retrieving up to 100 papers, extracting findings, and proposing cross-paper hypotheses with scope, novelty, and evidence. Costs up to 100 credits per run; takes 20–30 minutes.

AutoDiscovery

Surfaces unexpected, assumption-challenging insights hidden in your data using Bayesian surprise. Costs 1 credit per experiment.

Technical capabilities

Asta Credits system

Usage-tracking currency reflecting real compute and energy. Users get a one-time 1,000-credit grant on signup; each tool defines its own credit calculation. Below 120 credits you can request 100 more. Credits are never charged for.

Data retention & self-hosting

Explorations stay active for 24h then go read-only. Uploaded datasets are auto-purged 7 days after upload, never used for model training, and never shared. Self-hosted deployment is the only path for regulated data (HIPAA/GDPR).

Must watch videos

Using Asta AutoDiscovery: AI-powered autonomous scientific discovery

10:00

Tutorial10:00

Using Asta AutoDiscovery: AI-powered autonomous scientific discovery

Every dataset holds findings no one has looked for yet. The patterns are there - waiting in the rows and columns - but surfacing them requires asking the right questions. Most Al tools for science don't help with this part. They wait for you to provide a research question before they get to work. Today we're releasing AutoDiscovery in AstaLabs, an experimental feature that flips that dynamic. Instead of starting with a question, AutoDiscovery starts with your data and asks its own questions- generating hypotheses in natural language, writing and running Python code to test them, interpreting statistical results, and using what it learns to keep exploring. Give it a structured dataset, set an experiment budget, and let it run. You'll get back a complete list of novel research directions, each one fully transparent and reproducible.

Asta | an agentic ecosystem that advances scientific discovery

1:10

Tutorial1:10

Asta | an agentic ecosystem that advances scientific discovery

Today we announce Asta, our bold initiative to accelerate science by building trustworthy and capable agentic assistants for researchers, alongside the first comprehensive benchmarking system to bring clarity to the landscape of scientific AI. As AI use expands across the sciences, researchers in every field need helpful systems they can understand, verify, and trust. Asta is designed to fill this need. 💻 Sign up for Asta: https://asta.allen.ai/ ✍️ Read our blog: https://allenai.org/blog/asta 📝 Discuss on Discord: https://discord.gg/ai2

AI2 Asta: The Ultimate & Free AI Tool for Research Insights & Paper Understanding! (Full Tutorial)

6:51

Tutorial6:51

AI2 Asta: The Ultimate & Free AI Tool for Research Insights & Paper Understanding! (Full Tutorial)

In this video, I introduce AI2 Asta, an advanced AI-powered research assistant developed by the Allen Institute for AI. Asta helps researchers quickly understand complex papers, extract key findings, analyze methods, and explore connections across scientific literature. If you're a student, researcher, or academic writer, Asta can save hours of work by providing fast, accurate insights from any research article. You will learn: ✔ What AI2 Asta is and how it works ✔ How to extract key points, methods, and contributions ✔ How Asta helps with literature review & topic exploration ✔ How to use AI for faster, smarter research ✔ Real demonstration of Asta using the official site (asta.allen.ai) A must-use tool for anyone writing a thesis, research article, survey, or academic assignment. 👉 AI2 Asta: The Ultimate & Free AI Tool for Research Insights & Paper Understanding! (Full Tutorial): https://youtu.be/Htdjd79dBkc SEE Also (Related Videos): 👉 Semantic Scholar: The Smartest Way to Find Research Papers Fast (Complete Guide!): https://youtu.be/BpRlGmgP_KU 👉 Paper Digest: The Fastest Way to Understand Any Research Paper (Explained in Minutes!): https://youtu.be/qhMU2WkBms4 👉 Master SciSpace in Minutes: https://youtu.be/sFqiuexGLUM 👉Mendeley Reference Manager https://youtu.be/dCGi3PV28ME 👉 ResearchRabbit: https://youtu.be/8UsnjsZlNbc 👉 Consensus AI: https://youtu.be/8UsnjsZlNbc 👉 Scinapse AI: https://youtu.be/sGFgAXd5Ihg 👉 Claude AI Explained (2025): https://youtu.be/XEKkVBFkx84 👉 Bohrium AI Explained: https://youtu.be/RO8sG7K1okI 👉 How to Access Research PDFs Instantly with EndNote Click (Kopernio): https://youtu.be/u1y9ViRpmLk 👉 How to Draft Research Content with Citations Using Jenni AI: https://youtu.be/OZFTFB3o8JY 👉 How to Use ReadCube Papers: https://youtu.be/jjY7HxCIZiA 👉 How to Use QuillBot for Research Writing: https://youtu.be/RK6G8BBt068 👉 ExplainPaper AI Tool: https://youtu.be/jY5SxUxOlFU 👉 How to Use QuillBot Premium Legally for Free :https://youtu.be/0AYVnDzFS_0 👉 Explore Research Visually with Connected Papers: https://youtu.be/RGcRIGUH62g?si=weqURTk6aUs4bnmR 👉 Polish Your Academic Writing with Wordtune: https://youtu.be/cbjRA5UKons 👉Scribbr Citation Generator: https://youtu.be/2dt3SD-9PZw 👉Explore Citation Networks with Litmaps: https://youtu.be/Agr_3th4oBw 👉 Google AI Studio for Researchers: https://youtu.be/qgHjHpGNCtM 👉Organize and Cite References with Paperpile.ai: https://youtu.be/ayWcUpQqS2w 👉 Enhance Manuscript Readiness with Paperpal.ai: https://youtu.be/h4n5FylzjyE 👉 Rayyan.ai Part#1: https://youtu.be/X-ffKcIS-mg 👉 Rayyan.ai Part#2: https://youtu.be/oWeI38pXdL0 👉 Zotero Part#1: https://youtu.be/d7sx-N55IxU 👉 Zotero Part#2: https://youtu.be/9l5Er7ScU1w 👉 Watch ChatGPT as a Research Companion: https://youtu.be/cIVSuhrf8XU 👉 Elicit.ai for Researchers: https://youtu.be/2H3wpbPVf5 ✨ Watch the full AI Tools playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1fBF_qK-TWE5aIWeMP3akZOIde3HEpRl&si=4pfIphDKFe8SLnDE 🔹 Subscribe for more: https://youtube.com/@QRRwithUsman

Who uses it

Real use cases, no hype

Literature Search

Find relevant papers across 108M+ abstracts and 12M+ full texts.

Literature Review

Generate structured reports summarizing what papers say.

Research Data Analysis

Upload CSV, Excel, JSON, Parquet, and more for analysis.

Hypothesis Generation

Turn a research question into candidate testable theories.

Bayesian Data Discovery

Surface surprising patterns with AutoDiscovery.

Figure and Table QA

Ask questions about papers and reason over figures/tables.

Regulated Research

Self-host Asta for HIPAA, GDPR, and controlled datasets.

What's great

Free 1,000-credit grant, never charged
Huge 108M+ abstracts and 12M+ full-text corpus
Integrated search, reports, data analysis, and theory generation

Technical strengths

Open-access full-text grounding with evidence tabs
Self-hosting for HIPAA/GDPR and regulated data

Where it falls short

Open-access only; paywalled papers invisible
Theories are candidates, not conclusions
Explorations go read-only after 24 hours

Technical limitations

Hosted deployment bans sensitive or regulated data
Anonymous work can vanish if cookies are cleared

For technical folks

The deep-dive specs

Paper Corpus

108M+ abstracts and 12M+ full-text papers

Supported Data Formats

CSV, Excel (.xlsx), JSON (.json/.jsonl), HDF5, TSV, Parquet

Theory Generation Scope

Up to 100 retrieved papers per run

FAQ

Includes technical Q&A

Asta is a scholarly research assistant from Ai2 that uses 108M+ abstracts and 12M+ full-text papers to find, summarize, and analyze scientific evidence.